I Don't Like Mondays - Sports - NOT THE PUBLIC BROADCASTERhttp://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:47:15 +0000en-USSite-Server v6.0.0-11659-11659 (http://www.squarespace.com)Is Shapo The New Baseline In Canadian Tennis? Easy Now, Milos Is Still TopsBruce DowbigginMon, 14 Aug 2017 16:55:43 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/8/14/is-shapo-the-new-baseline-in-canadian-tennis-easy-now-milos-is-still-tops557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:5991d413579fb30a6f042ecdWe have seen the future, and his name is Denis Shapovalov. Okay, that might
be an exaggeration, but the emergence of the 18-year-old tennis player on
the national consciousness over a few steamy nights in August was enough to
get the imaginations of Canadians racing.

Credit: thestar.com

We have seen the future, and his name is Denis Shapovalov. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but the emergence of the 18-year-old tennis player on the national consciousness over a few steamy nights in August was enough to get the imaginations of Canadians racing.

To tennis people, Shapovalov is no mystery. He’s been on the radar for a few years now, winning the boys’ title at Wimbledon and notching important victories in other venues. He’d played well going into the Rogers Cup. His pedigree suggests that he should-- injuries withstanding— be a force to be reckoned with for some time.

He’s got game and athleticism. Plus charisma and more than a little fire in his belly— as the Israeli native displayed in dispatching world No. 2 Rafael Nadal plus Juan Martin del Potro in Montreal. He needs to get stronger, to be able to play without his A Game and to be hardened to the rigours of international travel that is competitive tennis.

It would also help if Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Nadal would retire soon to clear the decks for him. But don’t hold your breath on that one.

Naturally the hyperbole machine went full throttle after the Nadal win. Excitable types called it the greatest win in Canadian tennis history, one of the greatest wins by an individual Canadian male athlete etc. Perspective please, ladies and gentlemen.

Milos Raonic’s semifinal victory at Wimbledon over Federer is the single greatest win ever by any Canadian tennis player— male or female. He probably has half a dozen wins in other Grand Slam events that rank higher as well— including wins over Nadal, Murray, Federer and a bunch of Top 10 players. Genie Bouchard’s unrepeated march to the Wimbledon final had several epic wins.

For now, Shapo’s win ranks with the exciting-but-unrepeated win by Daniel Nestor over world No 1 Stefan Edberg in the 1992 Davis Cup. Nestor has been one of the greatest doubles players ever in tennis history (he still plays), but he was never able to repeat that glorious tease as a singles star. Shapovalov must prove he’s not a one-hit wonder.

You had to feel sorry for Raonic as people dropped him like a hot potato to board the Shapo Train. The hard-serving Raonic is a fixture in the world’s Top 10, even if his form the past year has been hampered by injury and coaching changes. He has yet to add the final wrinkles to his booming serve game to propel him into the men who win Grand Slam titles.

Plus, where Shapo is all dynamism, Raonic is a steady, meticulous— some would say bloodless— performer. The tall right-hander is never going to be a magnetic player on the court. But that’s how he needs to go about his business. Perhaps the Shapo emergence will be good for Raonic, taking the hot spotlight off him in Canada. Perhaps he’ll function better with less attention in his native land.

For now, it will be fun to see how fast and how high Denis Shapovalov flies.

His dynamic performance was needed for Canadian fans who’d waited with anticipation the medal performances at the World Track and Field Championships in London. Instead, the team that performed so well in Rio was blanked for medals this year— a distinct letdown. This after Canada won 10 medals at the previous WC. Damian Warner’s fifth in the decathlon was about as good as it got.

The problems began when sprinter André DeGrasse— a candidate to win three medals— wrecked his hamstring before the event and had to withdraw. Then a stomach virus felled other performers who were thought to have a shot. Former world champion pole vaulter Barber fell to eighth and defending high jump gold medalist Derek Drouhin wasn’t able to compete at all because of an ankle injury. The list went on.

None of this is uncorrectable. There are still good stories to come; 12 new performers made the top eight. DeGrasse will be back. But London was a sobering reminder that, like Shapovalov, Canadians track athletes will have to learn to follow a big performance with another.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Rookie Quarterbacks Are Delicate Things. Best Leave Them Alone.NFLRhys DowbigginFri, 11 Aug 2017 18:22:12 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/8/11/rookie-quarterbacks-are-delicate-things-best-leave-them-alone557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:598df288f7e0ab0d0fdc7de0The shine may have been the glare of light off his helmet, but Chicago
Bears rookie Quarterback Mitch Trubisky shone nonetheless. With the ease
begetting a top-five draft pick, he led the Bears offence to a touchdown on
his first drive then didn’t miss a pass until his eighth attempts. How
Chicago handles him now is the problem too many NFL teams have faced and
failed.

The NFL is cruel. Only three plays into their very first live action, the Chicago Bears offence put six points on the board – for the other team. In that moment, time became a flat circle and the future became a miserable six month wasteland waiting to unfold. Not 30 minutes later, just before the end of the half, the flat circle suddenly started to shine.

The shine may have been the glare of light off his helmet, but rookie Quarterback Mitch Trubisky shone nonetheless. With the ease begetting a top-five draft pick, he led the Bears offence to a touchdown. Over the next two quarters, he didn’t miss a pass until his eighth attempts and generally looked like a guy who knew how to play quarterback.

Like all rookie QB's who look good in the pres-season, the circumstances played a factor. As long as Trubisky gets to play at home two quarters at a time against mostly backups learning how to play their base defence after the presumed starter wraps himself in a blanket and lights it on fire without the pressure of winning a starting job, Mitch Trubisky may just be the guy.

Chicago Bears fans are already cheering him off the field. Chicago beat writers are preparing themselves to see him taking more important snaps during camp.

If you ask me, I hope he stays third on the depth chart for one more week.

With rookie quarterbacks, everyone has a ‘plan’ or a ‘process’ to properly develop them. Play him day one, sit him until the season is lost, send him for mani-pedi’s to feel relaxed – everyone has a plan.

It’s all bullsh*t. The best plan, the best process, is to coach his ass up until he’s the best player at the position on the roster. That’s it. Simple. Matter of fact.

The best way to learn is to play, maybe, but it's also the best way to get wrecked. It’s a paradox. Handing the starting job to a rookie because someone ahead of them played poor makes it about the other player. Handing the starting job to a rookie by default doesn’t prepare them mentally for the inevitable struggle. Don’t give him a pitch count. Don’t tell him he’s competing to start. Don’t have an arbitrary deadline for when you feel it’s ok to start him.

The best way for a rookie to learn is to be given no expectations. Expectations in the NFL are terrible things. It makes teams expecting to be good lose focus when they hit a rough patch. It makes players lose focus when they think they're guaranteed a starting job.

Worse, expectations extend into the public. I say, tell anyone who will listen that Trubisky isn't competing for the starting job - until he's won the competition for the starting job. No one will remember in three or four weeks that Mike Glennon was totally undermined by this approach if Trubisky has played well enough to earn it - because that's what everyone wants anyways.

We don’t have to go back very far to find a similar situation that played out. Russell Wilson wasn't supposed to win a starting job with the Seahawks after being drafted. Seattle brought in Matt Flynn on big money and Tarvaris Jackson to compete for that job. Wilson was an afterthought - until he was the man. While it’s even more difficult to dance to that tune when you've traded up to number two in the Draft to take Trubisky, at a minimum it takes the load of Trubisky and puts it on someone who's shoulders can handle it.

There is no playbook for how to handle a rookie QB. The ocean has sunk so many rookies quarterbacks for so many years. Every coach, GM, scout, and player will believe in a different method for how to swim it. The best thing to do then is have no method other than good, quality coaching and placing zero expectations on the player publicly or in the locker room. Tell the world you’re just out for a paddle on the ocean, wait until the wave crests, then ride the sh*t out of the wave. Your chances of drowning are high either way.

]]>He Was Bolt For Speed Bruce DowbigginMon, 07 Aug 2017 03:13:26 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/8/6/he-was-bolt-for-speed-and-he-left-us-speechless557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:5987d8b9bebafb164ef4d4ccUsain Bolt did not die on Saturday on London. It just felt like it. The
greatest sprinter the world has even seen finished a straining third in his
final race, the 100-metre final of the 2017 World Track & Field
Championships. Two other guys whom history will forget made sure his swan
song ended on a minor key.

credit: digitaljournal.com

“Now you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours out,

Runners whom renown outran

And the name died before the man.”

--To An Athlete Dying Young, A.E. Houseman

Usain Bolt did not die on Saturday on London. It just felt like it. The greatest sprinter the world has even seen finished a straining third in his final race, the 100-metre final of the 2017 World Track & Field Championships. Two other guys whom history will forget made sure his swan song ended on a minor key.

And that smarts.

It was supposed to be different. If Bolt was to lose, at least, it was to have been Canadian André DeGrasse who ushered him out. But the Canadian tore his hamstring and didn’t even race in London. Instead a reformed (?) drug cheat, Justin Gatlin, sent him into retirement. Ick.

It will not feel to Bolt that he has died. Knowing Bolt as we do, it’ll burn for a while. However, his stunning record of gold medals, world championships and media moments will soon comfort him like a balm in the days ahead. And he can count the money we hope he saved from the hundreds of millions he’s raked in. (Who knows, he may, in 18 months, change his mind and say he’s coming back for the 2020 Summer Olympics.)

He’ll always be the valedictorian in a very exclusive club, the world’s fastest man. There are 25 in recorded modern history. And Bolt is the chairman of the board, that includes Canada’s Donovan Bailey. (And with better help, Ben Johnson.) Despite the denouement in London, he will not be one of those “runners whom renown outran”.

The temptation to keep it all going is great. In one sense he’s a beneficiary of all the money in sports these days. In the simon-pure amateur age, a runner could only delay his or her eventual transition to the rest of their lives for only so long. You had one, maybe two Olympics. You lived in a shed or hoped that you could balance a life and a job. It was a spartan existence.

Spartan is not a description of the life Bolt’s lived since becoming a world champion in his teens. Longevity brought him phenomenal riches. As we can see watching the Track & Field Championships, there are plenty of 30-somethings still pursuing their careers, winning gold medals and cashing huge cheques. If Bolt was of a mind to, he could go for another five or six years. The man who beat him in London, Gatlin, is a spry 35 years old— and he missed four years to a drug suspension.

But what of the fans who watched in awe as he bragged about it and then backed it up with his posing and mugging, his sly Jamaican humor? It’s hard to think of an athlete in any sport who’s left a larger gap behind. Sure, we haven’t seen the like of Tiger Woods since he wore his honours out. But there has been a gang of prodigious wannabes such as Dustin Johnston and Jordan Spieth who’ve eased the loss.

When Roger Federer finally decides to stop embarrassing his juniors, he’ll be followed at the top of the tennis world by the prodigious Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.

Bolt stands alone. He defines great in every sense of the word. Not greatness as Rod Black describes it (two good games and strong first half). But the unquestioned immortality of someone like Bolt who towers over the sport and makes the Olympics relevant. Gold medal winners come and go, but the IOC knows what Bolt did for their bottom line.

And fans know what his electrifying performances did for them, too. There is something intangible about Bolt or Serena Williams or Federer that is not defined by a network TV promo. You cannot BS fans about it. Like a Supreme Court justice once said about pornography, fans know it when they see it.

In the age of spin we knew. We didn’t have to be told. And despite a third in London, Bolt taught us to trust our own eyes and enjoy the show for what it was. Something we’ll still be talking about in 20 years.

And that is worth something. As A. E. Houseman knew way back in 1896.

“Smart lad, to slip betimes away

From fields where glory does not stay

And early though the laurel grow

It withers quicker than the rose.”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Virtual TV Technology Has Called Out The Umpires' Wandering Strike Zone Bruce DowbigginMon, 31 Jul 2017 03:06:54 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/30/virtual-tv-technology-has-called-out-the-umpires-wandering-strike-zone557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:597e9d11725e2562b8b63bcaThese are the dog days of the baseball season. Which was probably
appropriate as the Toronto Blue Jays howled like scalded hounds all week—
umpire-wise.

These are the dog days of the baseball season. Which was probably appropriate as the Toronto Blue Jays howled like scalded hounds all week— umpire-wise.

The Jays have perhaps been the whiniest team in the majors during the José Bautista era— a tendency supported by some (not all) of the team’s broadcasters. The collapse of the playoff team the past two seasons hasn’t help make them more amenable.

So it was no surprise when the Jays started to grumble about the ball/ strike cals of umpire Will Little in Thursday’s final of a four-game series with Oakland. Toronto’s high-intensity pitcher Marcus Stroman was not getting the strikes at the bottom of the zone that he usually gets— the strikes he needs to win.

He began a dialogue with Little about the strike zone in the first inning and, with few exceptions, kept up his bitching till the fifth inning. Trying to protect his best starter, Toronto manager John Gibbons joined the moaning from his dugout perch in the fifth. The Jays’ TV crew joined in the protests, saying Little was missing calls on both teams.

Trailing the awful A’s before a restless home crowd, the Jays needed scapegoats, and Little’s squeezing of Stroman made a convenient focus. Umpires are never 100 percent right, but the virtual strike zone on the Sportsnet broadcast showed this was something less than the greatest crime since the 1984 OJ decision.

Following a pitch that was clearly outside the strike zone, TV cameras on-field picked up Gibbons ragging Little. Faster than you can say Jackie Robinson, Little tossed Gibbons for arguing balls and strikes. Gibbons emerged from the dugout to get a few final corrective jabs at Little, pressing coach Demarlo Hale to handle managing.

When Gibbons exited and things settled down, Stroman threw one more pitch. This moving fastball one sailed outside the strike zone. When Little rightly called it a ball, Stroman shouted at him. (The message was not “Best of luck.”) The Toronto crowd roared its grievance

Little tossed Stroman from the game. When catcher Russell Martin turned to address the umpire, Little threw him out, too. Two pitches, three ejections and a lot of angry feelings from the jittery Jays and their TV announce crew who condemned Little on what their own camera showed was a pitch clearly outside the strike zone— just as he’d called it.

This was not mentioned by the TV crew who kept on about how bad a call it was, and how Stroman needed the corners and umpires carry grudges. The turbulent scene was widely replayed on highlight shows and digital networks that night. Most everyone talked about whether the Jays had been jobbed on a pitch that was demonstrably a ball.

In all the turmoil almost no one addressed the issue of how the process of calling balls and strikes could be improved.

The answer was as plain as the TV virtual strike zone to which no one was paying any attention. In its cold image, the strike zone was saying that the Jays’ grievances were exagerrated. If you were looking for an argument stopper, it was already at hand.

So why does MLB stick with humans? The biggest argument against the virtual strike zone is that it might be calibrated improperly if the camera mounts move. Or that not all angles in parks are the same. Many of these same arguments were made against introducing instant replay in football or line calls in tennis.

But video calls have largely removed John McEnroe histrionics in tennis. And NFL goal-line replays have largely eliminated the guesswork to the human eye. The last-second NBA reviews have established for everyone whether a shot was delivered on time. If the zone is slightly askew, it’s the same for everyone.

With the virtual strike zone calling balls and strikes, John Gibbons’ beef would be with a machine, not an umpire as erratic as Little or Angel Hernandez. The spectacle of managers or pitcher losing their mind over a call— as Gibbons and Stroman did— would be removed.

Games might— just might— proceed under something less than a conspiratorial tone where one team was being screwed by MLB’s head office. They might go by just as tad brisker with fewer arguments. Umpires could adopt a less flint approach to debates with players.

The time is here. Tell the baseball umpires' union that they have been made redundanton called strikes. They can amuse themselves with foul tips, sliding runners and calling balks. But for heaven’s sake let the 21st century begin at home plate.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Wild Things: Robbie Lawler vs Donald CerroneMMARhys DowbigginWed, 26 Jul 2017 03:49:47 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/25/wild-things-donald-cerrone-v-robbie-lawler557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:59777757a803bb91683838ff"I never saw a wild thing / sorry for itself." If you are the kind of human
being that can step into a cage knowing your consciousness (or a limb) will
be the likely consequence, you have little time for self-pity. No two
fighters embody that trait better than Donald Cerrone and Robbie Lawler.

I never saw a wild thing

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.

DH Lawrence may not imagined mixed martial artists when he wrote the poem ‘Self-Pity’. Given one in his day, he would have needed to look no further.

Athletes in general are confident bordering on outright cockiness, combat sports athletes more than any. In a sport where being knocked out is a likely outcome, there is no sport that punishes its athletes for failure with as much public ferocity as MMA. The easiest mindset to deal with a world that can collapse around you suddenly is an unflinching, uncompromising level of confidence. Never waver, never doubt, never feel sorry for yourself.

If you are the kind of human whose occupation is a compelled by breaking down another person’s will for 15-25 minutes, knowing your opponent looks to do the same, you have little time for pity. If you are the kind of human being that can step into a cage knowing your consciousness (or a limb) will be the likely consequence, you have little time for self-pity.

If we were to turn Lawrence's poem into a fight, we would get Donald Cerrone versus Robbie Lawler.

Cerrone is MMA’s Cal Ripken Jr. With an astounding 24 UFC fights in six years - an average of a fight every 98 days - few have maintained as torrid a pace as Cowboy. The sight of a scowling Cerrone stalking forward behind sharp kicks and lancing knees is MMA’s version of McDonald’s – the brand of reliability. No matter when or where, Cerrone dishes out meals of action leaving fans satisfied yet hungry for more. His fights against Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson in the WEC are legendary. His UFC run similarly staked his claim as the people’s fighter.

Yet when Cowboy found himself a step close to gold, Cerrone’s reliability faltered. The Cowboy has been bucked from his horse on three significant occasions: losing a crucial fight to Nate Diaz in 2011, a Lightweight title match against Rafael Dos Anjos in 2015, and having a run in Welterweight snapped earlier this year to Jorge Masvidal. Always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.

Cerrone's insistence to push forward, always fighting as soon as he could, suggests Cerrone has little time for dwelling on those losses. Had he, like so many MMA fans, been as broken up about his setbacks, he would never have made such inspiring career turnarounds like defeating Benson Henderson 15 days after beating Myles Jury or recreating himself Welterweight. Cerrone has never had much time for slowing down.

Robbie Lawler is MMA’s James Braddock. Debuting as a fresh-faced 19-year-old, Lawler’s early career was one of great promise, built on a thunderous right hand and dogged aggression. MMA fans saw a young, hungry fighter ready to conquer the sport. However, that ideal was shattered when Lawler was finished in three of his next four fights. The UFC dropped Lawler and he found himself a boat on open water, wallowing in total chaos on the regional circuit. At its worst, Lawler lost five of eight in Strikeforce, fighting far up in weight at times against much larger opponents like Jacare Souza, Tim Kennedy, and Melvin Manhoef.

When he returned to the UFC nine years later in 2013, it was not heralded as a triumphant return but as an afterthought, a walking nostalgia trip. Then his thunderous knockout of Josh Koschek left the MMA world’s mouth agap. A follow-up, highlight reel knockout of Bobby Voelker one fight later and Lawler was suddenly a rejuvenated man. He would snatch the UFC Welterweight title before 2015 was out. After his war defending the strap against Rory Macdonald, upon the sight of a bloodied, roaring Lawler, his lip split gorily, we knew: Robbie Lawler was who we always hoped he could be.

Lawler rap sheet of 38 fights over 16 years rivals anyone in the sport today. But few have spent so much of it riding a rollercoaster. Through it all, Lawler's ability to dish out his brand of snarling, savage justice has been a constant. No fighter’s moniker is more apt. Despite every bump in the road, every misstep, Lawler returned as Ruthless as they come.

In their careers, Cerrone and Lawler have both faced tribulation and achieved triumph. Losses have come, but both men have stood in the face of them, Cerrone with his scowl, Lawler with his roar. You couldn’t find two men who feel less sorry for themselves.

If DH Lawrence were alive today, in this fight he would see wild things - two aggressive, intractable fighters - that would rather die than feel sorry for themselves. On Saturday, one of those wild things will emerge victorious. Don’t feel sorry for the defeated - because they won’t.

]]>The Irresistible Move Toward Super Teams AcceleratesBruce DowbigginMon, 24 Jul 2017 03:15:09 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/23/the-irresistible-move-toward-super-teams-accelerates557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:597565356b8f5b295201a58aMid-July is not what we commonly refer to as basketball season. But the
re-working of the NBA’s power dynamic seems to be encroaching on the turf
of MLB and the NFL camps opening this week.

Mid-July is not what we commonly refer to as basketball season. But the re-working of the NBA’s power dynamic seems to be encroaching on the turf of MLB and the NFL camps opening this week.

The 48-point type this week was the news that NBA All Star guard Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly doesn’t want to be pals with teammate LeBron James any longer. After going to three consecutive NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, winning one, Irving has asked the Cavs to trade him.

Why would you want to leave such a cushy spot? Cashing big cheques and basking in the reflected glow of James, the world’s best player? A member of one of the NBA’s elite teams?

Rumour has it that Irving is trying to force the hand of both James and the Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Irving, the first overall draft pick in 2011, is looking down the road. James has made little secret of the fact that he wants to move to Los Angeles when he can get out of his contract. That may be as soon as next summer.

With no LeBron in Cleveland, the Cavs’ chances of being the NBA East big dog are greatly reduced.

So Irving is looking to get to the next super team while he has options. Forcing the Cavs to deal him to a potential champion like San Antonio or Houston now would give him the advantage of forming the team that succeeds Golden State as champion. Because super teams are all the rage in the NBA.

The first assembled champion was James’ Miami Heat squad, when he brought together Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in South Beach to win two NBA titles in their years as teammates. When James decided to return to his original team in Cleveland, it was Irving and Kevin Love he enticed to the shore of Lake Erie for a championship run.

But Golden State got there first as a super squad, with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Key Thompson and (last year) Kevin Durant creating an unbeatable squad in the Pacific northwest. So the Cavs have lost two of three Finals to the Warrior machine.

The ascension of super teams in the NBA worries those people who think parity is the way to run a league. The concept of superstars uniting to create these juggernauts offends those who see dominant clubs as contrary to the spirit of expanded leagues and marketable logos ad nauseum.

They point to the lacklustre first rounds of this year’s NBA postseason as proof that benchmark teams are bad for business. While the series were underwhelming, it still didn’t hurt national TV ratings, especially when the anticipated Warriors/ Cavs Final rolled around. People still want to see then best players on the best teams, not a bunch of franchise players strung out over a lot of meaningless markets.

Much of this concentration of talent is being driven by the players and their agents— not the league or the teams. With endless stacks of money to be made by even the average player, the deciding factor for stars is now winning. Like soccer, the NBA players are exploiting the desire for premium content to drive its new digital packages to global acceptance.

Basketball is more susceptible to super teams because of its limited rosters. A star of James’ or Curry’s magnitude can have a disproportionate impact on the outcome of a game. In the NFL (55-man rosters), the NHL, (21-man rosters) or MLB (25-man rosters), the chance of dominating based on a core of superstars is less likely.

But it’s hardly a coincidence that Sidney Crosby’s Penguins, Jonathan Toews’ Blackhawks and Nicklas Lidstrom’s Red Wings have dominated the Stanley Cup since 2000. Great players still equate with championships-- even with large rosters. Just ask Tom Brady of the Patriots.

Gary Bettman’s NHL will try to resist this market pressure with its suffocating salary cap that punishes star players and with its drive to keep bloating the number of teams in the league. But the players and the fans want something more in this era of entertainment. Seeing the best against best is always going to triumph over regional; rivalries in the digital age.

Lebron knows this. How long will it take for the NHL to wake up to his message?

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Former Leafs Owner Pal Hal Wrote The Book That Donald Trump Follows TodayBruce DowbigginMon, 17 Jul 2017 04:11:02 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/16/mex8brzuq88k80wia1cnms2xuer1pq557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:596c375a20099e88cccab68aI was spinning hockey yarns with friends in the business recently, and the
name Harold Ballard came up. The former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs
died 27 years ago, but the memories of his dyfunction are as sharp today as
ever.

I was spinning hockey yarns with friends in the business recently, and the name Harold Ballard came up. The former owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs died 27 years ago, but the memories of his dyfunctionality are as sharp today as ever.

As we went from one Ballard story— remember when he wouldn’t let women reporters in the dressing room because Borje Salming was…. ahem, endowed?— it struck me that if you’re looking for the person who best captures the zeitgeist of Donald Trump. Ballard is probably the best model. While some say former Toronto mayor Rob Ford is the forerunner of Trump, his addiction issues set him apart from both Ballard and Trump, whose weakness is themselves, not substances.

Yes, Trump leads the most powerful nation inn the world. While Pal Hal was not running a nation, he was the owner of the most powerful NHL team in English Canada— back in the days when there were just two NHL teams in Canada. Everything he did was magnified beyond all proportion. Being in Toronto, the media capital only made things worse. When he spoke, people listened, and the media freaked out.

Like Trump, Ballard knew how to use the media to control his own wacky narrative. And how it drove mainstream reporters crazy. No story seemed to follow from the last. Using Toronto Star reporter Milt Dunnell as his Sean Hannity pipeline, Ballard was always foiling the established media. Kind of like you-know-who.

One story early in my career stands out. Ballard had scheduled a presser at the Gardens to announce the signing of a first-round draft pick. But that week the RCMP revealed Ballard had been charged with having unregistered weapons in his apartment atop the Gardens. When the press conference started all the questions were about the guns, not the young player.

A vexed Ballard proceeded to rip the media assembled, using every curse word alone and in combination with other F-bombs. Saying we were products of that model school (Ryerson’s media school), he compared us to slime, slugs and other bivalves. All as the cameras rolled. Remember, this is the ‘80s, when you couldn’t say “damn” on the air.

When Hurricane Harold blew himself out we adjourned for lunch. Then, as we headed to the street, Harold was there to greet us at the door. With a broad smile he thanked us for coming and “for supporting the club”.

It was hardly a unique moment. There was the time he promoted his 30-year-old PR guy Gord Stellick to GM of the Leafs. There was the famous national interview with CBC’s Barbara Frum in which he proclaimed “Women are best in one position – on their backs.". There was his purchase of the Hamilton Tiger Cats, whose logo he put smack at centre ice in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, there Cats’ biggest rival.

Like Trump, Ballard got his money from his father and, through fits and starts, built a bigger fortune. Trump had bankruptcies and Trump University. Ballard went to jail for 18 months for defrauding Maple Leaf Gardens (he incriminated himself by drawing a mapof his cottage where employees were to deliver stolen supplies).

Like Trump, Ballard was a septuagenarian who was only taking his own counsel. And he revelled in aggravating people. Hall of Fame goalie and author Ken Dryden described Ballard in his book The Game "like [a] wrestling villain who touches the audience to make his next villainy seem worse.” Sound like anyone we know who lives in the White House?

While Trump’s tastes in female companionship run to former models, Ballard’s love interest was a blowzy grifter named Yolanda, who moved in with Ballard in his final decade to nurse him and his money, whichever came first. Just as there is a Donald Trump Jr., there was a Harold Ballard Jr. And the family couldn’t stay out of the news either. Son Bill Ballard was charged with assault for taking a shot at Yolanda.

The family drama when Ballard died in 1990 was worthy of Dallas or Dynasty. Reporters from all the Canadian media haunted the doorway of the Miami hospital where he drew his last breath. Who would get the Maple Leafs? Would Yolanda het the money? A nation awaited news.

Most of all, Ballard and Trump represent a challenge to the established way of doing things. Hockey owners were supposed to be like the patrician Molson family in Montreal. Tanned and urbane, the Molsons were folks the media could wrap their arms around. Ballard was a brash clown who wore a jacket that was half Maple Leafs/ half Tiger Cats logos.

Despite their money, Trump and Ballard are seen as declassé, a lower order of hillbillies beyond the pale. You think Trump is hard on the media? Ballard called writer Jim Hunt a bastard— live on air. “He then told TV host Dave Hodge that his comments were about someone whose last name starts with one of the first three letters of the alphabet. Hodge responded by saying Jim Bunt. Ballard responded by saying the name started with the letter C."

Trump, however, got his laugh by winning the presidency. Ballard’s Leafs never cam e close to winning a Stanley Cup post-1967 but the Ti-Cats won a Grey Cup.

If you need one more reason to connect the two outsized personalities, they shared one more distinctive trait. They both had orange hair.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Mayweather/McGregor: Is It A Cinch In The Clinch?MMABoxingRhys DowbigginThu, 13 Jul 2017 15:17:33 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/6/conor-mcgregors-best-shot557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:595ead6b36e5d3558da9252cDespite what the hype may say, Conor McGregor will find the footing
slippery and margins narrow in his fight against Floyd Mayweather. But
there is a way. It's a cinch! It's all about that clinch.

If there is one thing Floyd Mayweather is better at than dodging punches, it’s throwing punches at the negotiating table. Few boxers have protected their own ass better than Floyd when it comes to ensuring the rules are in his favor. Like the former Mayor of Providence, Buddy Cianci, once said, "I’m not there to play to see who’s gonna win the game. When you’re playing on my court and my field and I own the referees, you ain’t gonna beat me."

If the first press conference for the Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight is any indication, Mayweather is at the top of his game. From the get-go, it was obvious Mayweather wasn't giving McGregor an inch. The format all but neutered McGregor's greatest strength of out-dueling opponents verbally in back-and-forth exchanges as McGregor was forced to give an Oscar-like speech that dragged for minutes on end. Then when Mayweather got his turn, he had no opposition against his screams of 'Hard work!' For the briefest moment, McGregor managed to grab a mic, but it mysteriously died. Mayweather's fingerprints were everywhere. (Luckily for us, Floyd Sr. decided to give McGregor exactly what he wanted by crashing The Notorious' post-press presser. "It's your fault, Senior!")

You can rest assured that no stone has been left unturned by Mayweather. If the fight was a mismatch on paper, in practice, it becomes a herculean task for McGregor playing against the house.

If we want to give McGregor some checkmarks, we can safely assume that his reflexes are on par with Mayweather, has better power, and is undoubtedly larger. But physical advantages are a wash when nearly every other category is in the other fighters’ favor. If you have great reflexes, your opponents punch variety will leave you flinching and failing to pull the trigger. If you’re larger, you’re opponent’s ringcraft will have you chasing them around the ring and prevent you from imposing it. If you have better power, your opponent’s defensive savvy and positioning will leave you swinging at air.

All of these factors have one thing in common: Mayweather’s ability to move. Only if Mayweather were to stand still would the fight become more interesting. If there is one facet of the fight that, more than any other, would be to McGregor’s advantage and arguably favor McGregor, it’s the clinch. Faras Zahabi made the point in another one of his excellent analysis videos on YouTube.

The clinch in boxing and in MMA were once distant cousins. In recent years, the MMA version has brought itself closer into the boxing family. When once the MMA clinch was the beginnings of a takedown, it has evolved to become a node for an entirely new set of options in grappling but increasingly more in striking.

A brief history of the clinch reveals the two uses of the clinch. The Randy Couture’s of the world used the clinch to get the takedown (using the clinch to, for a time, successfully stifle the larger, more powerful Brock Lesnar). While the Anderson Silva's used the clinch to pommel Rich Franklin’s head and knee him until he wilted.

Though Silva’s use of the Thai clinch did not spark a sudden revolution, it was one of the best early examples of the clinch’s function for battering an opponent with strikes in close. Suddenly, a space once dominated by wrestlers was revealed to have an alternative use.

The most famous recent example would be Jon Jones’ use of the clinch against Daniel Cormier. Bones parked Cormier’s back against the cage for long stretches, fought for wrist control to move Cormier’s guard, and then battered DC’s face with elbows and dug deep body shots. The clinch was used to control and bludgeon the former Olympian against the cage. You would be hard pressed these days to see an MMA fight where one fighter isn’t initializing a clinch to work in close-quarters striking exchanges.

In boxing, the use of the clinch to batter an opponent in close quarters is a practice as old as the fossilized gum on the floor of the Garden in NYC. The clinch has been the deep end that dirty boxers have drowned opponents for decades. Books have been written on how to dirty box in the clinch.

Should McGregor be allowed to work in clinch and use all his boxing tools there, he can be very, very competitive. If we go by virtue of a 10,000-hours ethos, McGregor has spent years of time becoming effective in the clinch by virtue of training as a grappler and as a striker. No one area in MMA overlaps between the two sports as closely. The movements and actions, the escapes, the positioning, will all be tools McGregor has had years of honing that apply. While in space, everything McGregor has trained for changes in a boxing ring. In close, body-to-body, the size and shape of the space disappears.

The clinch would allow McGregor an avenue to keep Mayweather in position to be hit. His size would then become a factor. His power then comes back into equation. His unproven ability to fight 12 rounds is then negated because he can wear out Mayweather. He could conceivably frustrate Mayweather.

Part of the excitement around McGregor in this fight is the undermentioned factor that he will be free to throw hands without worrying about Mayweather going for his hips (McGregor alluded to this himself at the presser - fewer tools to use, more simplified). Without fear of takedowns, McGregor can be free to draw Mayweather forward in the clinch to position him for uppercuts, a tactic in MMA utilized only by those with incredible takedown defence or a lack of brainpower. It also means McGregor can drop his own head low and in tight without the fear Mayweather will slap him into a front headlock or slip on a guillotine choke.

As we saw against Nate Diaz, a larger opponent than McGregor, the Irishman held his own in taxing, physical clinch exchanges. Flip the script and make McGregor the bigger man, it is conceivable that McGregor can make hay there.

This doesn’t’ discount that Floyd is, in many cases, is a tremendous clinch fighter. The clinch could arguably be his domain as all the others. But the point still stands that of all the areas in which McGregor's career as a mixed martial artist has prepared him for a boxing bout, it's in close.

Of course, all of this is a big ‘if’. Because as we discussed at the top, Mayweather is always playing by house rules. The clinch has become the place fighters are given the least leeway in a Mayweather fight. Referees don’t stand by long when a Mayweather opponent works for position in close-quarters. Plying an advantage there is like raising on a pocket pair in pre-flop poker – it’s an advantage that only lasts until a few more cards are on the table.

If we tune in on August 26 and McGregor can get his hands on Mayweather early and gets the time to work there, we may have to be ready to pull our feet out of our mouths.

]]>Malcolm Gladwell Hates Golf: Go Figure Bruce DowbigginMon, 10 Jul 2017 03:22:40 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/9/z0m2wtq58fexh8gr0bhzqv2lgimhw1557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:5962ecc5d482e9491cbf49c5When I first went to St. Andrews in Scotland to play the Old Course, I
arrived late on a Saturday afternoon. Upon arriving I tried to book a round
for the next morning. “Ye canna’”, my host told me. “Tha’ Ol’ Coorse is
closed as a park for the bairn and their kin”.

When I first visited St. Andrews in Scotland to play the Old Course, I arrived late on a Saturday afternoon. Upon arriving I tried to book a round for the next morning. “Ye canna’”, my host told me. “Tha’ Ol’ Coorse is closed as a park for the bairn and their kin”.

Indeed, despite being the home of the Royal & Ancient, the spiritual home of golf to much of the world, the Old Course is a city park on Sundays for the use of the town’s citizens. People walk dogs and push prams where Jack Nicklaus strode. So I was shut out on Sunday (I did manage to fit in a round on the Saturday, crossing the Swilican Burn at 10:30 PM).

To many, this seems the idealized picture of golf courses— a mixed-use recreational facility shared by the community. A green space to ramble, jog and hit a laser-sharp iron.

But many of the world’s most famous golf courses are private facilities open to members only. And that has Canadian social critic Malcolm Gladwell mad as hell. In a recent podcast, Gladwell admits he’s not fond of the sport in the first place. “I hate golf… And hopefully by the end of this podcast, you’ll hate golf, too.”

What really piqued Gladwell was a recent jog he took in Los Angeles around the private Brentwood Country Club. While Gladwell was confined to crowded streets and sidewalks, the lush fairways of Brentwood were (in Gladwell's estimation) dreadfully underutilized. So he started a “quest to figure out why Brentwood Country Club isn’t just a big park that I can go running through.”

For some reason, golf is the only form of exercise that is subject to mockery in this age of heath consciousness. Lawn bowling doesn’t get this. Horse shoes isn’t subject to sarcasm. Water skiing isn’t pilloried. But golf as exercise has a target on its back.

Actually there’s an obvious reason. Golf is enjoyed by white people, especially white males of middle age. If there’s a cultural punching bag for society these days it’s the whole privilege thing about country clubs satirized in Caddyshack. The kind of kitschy bucolic splendour seen at the Masters each April. You can’t say enough bad things about Trumpworld.

Presidents as diverse as Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush have been taken to the woodshed for choosing golf as their leisure activity. The sneering when a president is photographed on a course makes one believe they must be drowning kittens.

Forget that active people reduce the health-care burden. Forget that the trees, grass and plants are the lungs of a congested city. Forget that the camaraderie of golf is exactly the social interplay we desire in society.

Gladwell, who prefers grinding his ankles into powder jogging on the asphalt streets of New York or L.A. to a four-hour amble on lush fairways, sees nothing redeeming in golf or its taxation status in many cities. The kind of people who are only happy when stoking resentments have landed upon the green-space grants many courses enjoy from municipalities where they’re located.

Gladwell and Co. consider this to be high crimes and misdemeanors. He goes on at length about the unfairness of having a private space being under-utilized when he could be turning his knees to jelly on his morning amble. And taxpayers being made to foot some sort of bill for it.

He quotes statistics and experts who say that, as a spur to business, a golf course is a poor workplace. He makes out that captains of industry spend as many as three or four days a week — a fib to serve his golf hate. He debunks the economic benefits ascribed to golf.

How many business people seal deals while bathed in sweat in a marathon is not discussed. Nor is the fact that these tax breaks are consistently supported by voters. Nor the healthy TV ratings for golf's majors.

The irony of Gladwell staying in an under-utilized pool house in L.A. that could, when empty, be shared with a Latino family is likewise not considered in his jeremiad against golf. When you live in cramped Manhattan, where every square inch must be accounted for, the wide open spaces of other places can be a bit dizzying.

Gladwell is no doubt encouraged by the decline in golf participation, as younger generations prefer the idling provided by their tablet or computer. Courses are closing, the sod and trees ripped up to provide housing. Private housing. Where Gladwell will also not be permitted to jog his skinny ass off.

We await the podcast decrying the tyranny of private housing from Mr. Outlier.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Home On The Rangefinder: Handheld Or Wristwatch Styles Have Their FansBruce DowbigginTue, 04 Jul 2017 00:50:22 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/7/3/122rgev5ime1igl0c5io9ht01c3liq557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:595ae458e110eba00f6f4455There’s a story— probably apocryphal— about the notoriously fastidious
German golfer Bernhard Langer. According to the legend, Langer asked his
caddy for a distance on a shot he was about to make.

There’s a story— probably apocryphal— about the notoriously fastidious German golfer Bernhard Langer. According to the legend, Langer asked his caddy for a distance on a shot he was about to make.

“It’s 145 yards from the sprinkler head,” replied the caddy.

“Is that 145 yards from the front of the sprinkler head or 145 yards from the back of the sprinkler head?” Langer was alleged to have replied.

Okay, some golfers are very, very precise about measuring the distances their shots must travel. On the PGA and LPGA Tour, this precision is the currency of the realm. For the average player, an approximation of the distance within five or ten yards is often enough to suffice.

Either way, rangefinders have become a familiar sight on courses and ranges where players work on their craft. Now, they are legal to use in all but the top levels of the PGA and LPGA— and even that is changing, too.

Once, the golf industry thought that GPS units in carts was the future of rangefinders. Then I went to the annual golf merchandise show in January in Orlando. The section of the massive show devoted to GPS devices was minuscule. Knowing how much players want precision for their shots, I asked why so few displays?

The rep pointed to his wrist. “Portable. That’s the future of the rangefinder,” he said glumly. “Portable technology has taken over.”

By portable he meant hand-held laser units and wrist watches that give distances to the golfer. The question was, which product would triumph in the marketplace? Turns out that both technologies have their supporters.

To assess the differences I decided to test both technologies for a few weeks to see which I preferred. There are many reputable handheld laser units out there, but for my purposes I used the TecTecTec VPRODLX 1K high-performance unit. Like other handhelds it can seek a sensor target on the flag stick or trees, mounds and water hazards.

According to the maker, the unit is accurate to within a yard from 1000 yards away. It has “three scanning modes – Pinsensor measures overlapping targets, including flagsticks and wooded areas; Target Priority displays distance of the closest subject; and Scan Mode helps read distances to hazards.” It’s also remarkably light. As opposed to other handhelds I saw, the VPRODLX 1K features a vertical, not horizontal shape— which i preferred. It’s also very light at just 0.41 lbs.

The pictures and measurements delivered were crisp and accurate. Its long-distance readings were also very helpful. For the golfer who wants precision, the unit is perfect. My two reservations about all handhelds are both user dependent. For the golfer who walks a course, there is the problem of steadying the unit when the heart rate is elevated or the weather conditions buffet the player.

Getting my VPRODLX 1K steady to read the distance was an effort in challenging weather or hilly ground. The second drawback is not the fault of the manufacturer. As a loose object, the portable rangefinder is prone to getting lost— again, especially for the walker. I have found units on tee boxes and beside greens, left behind by absent-minded players.

Otherwise, the VPRODLX 1K was accurate, portable and I recommend it to the serious golfer who wishes a very specific distance. Cost ranges from $199 to $299 (US).

The competition for range finders is in watches that have become increasingly diverse. I tested the Garmin S6, the latest generation of the Garmin watch that I have already used. From the first efforts, which simply delivered approximate measurements on up to 25,000 courses in North America, the Garmin S6 is a Swiss Army watch of golf tools.

It now allows the convenience of readings on the watch plus shot distances, detailed scoring of rounds, swing strength, tempo training and a downloadable program to track results. Golfers can now program local details about a course that were not done on early models.

One complaint in previous watches was the fixed front/ middle/back measurements on greens. But the Garmin S6 has a colour greens mode that allows the golfer to move the target flag to a more accurate placement on the green. All distances from tee to green are subsequently re-calibrated in a clear screen. Distances to hazards also are now much easier to view.

As mentioned, golfers can trace the distance on shots by simply activating a button on the watch. Now drives can be measured for bragging rights or putts can be stepped off for better accuracy. The swing strength and tempo trainers in the watch incorporate separate units that were once bought separately. They are useful tools for the range or offseason.

Plus, the Garmin S6 readings are unaffected by weather conditions or steadiness of hand. Because it’s fixed to the wrist there is no chance of leaving it behind on the course (although sun lovers will be left with a light “Tan band” on the arm). And the battery life has been greatly improved too allow for multiple games without re-charging.

In summary, there’s something for every type of golfer between the Garmin S6 tech and the VPRODLX 1K. With so much data at hand, all you’ll need now is Dustin Johnson to hit your shots and golf will be a beautiful thing.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Time To Spin The Deal Of Fortune For Blue JaysBruce DowbigginMon, 26 Jun 2017 04:22:01 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/25/time-to-spin-the-deal-of-fortune-for-blue-jays557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:595089ea099c01a39eeb1e1fThis time last year, Rogers had a big problem. In the first year of its
massive new NHL deal not one Canadian team made the playoffs. Ofer seven.
Ratings tanked, fans tuned out, and sponsors had to be massaged. Lots of
people lost their jobs.

This time last year, Rogers had a big problem. In the first year of its massive new NHL deal not one Canadian team made the playoffs. Ofer seven. Ratings tanked, fans tuned out, and sponsors had to be massaged. Lots of people lost their jobs.

It was the worst start for the communications giant taht had wagered the family jewels upon the NHL reaping a bounty from the tech revolution.

Thankfully Rogers was partially bailed out by the Toronto Blue Jays, their baseball property. While the team wasn’t able to replicate their magic 2015 come-from-behind season, the team still managed to make it back to the postseason. Fans again tuned in by the millions night after night.

This spring, sanity returned on the NHL scene. Five Canadian teams made the postseason. The plucky Ottawa Senators took future Stanley Cup winners Pittsburgh to seven games in the Eastern Conference Final. Ratings in Canada for the NHL playoffs resumed their typical strength and, augmented by new tech platforms, gave a promise of what the contract might deliver.

The Blue Jays, on the other hand, don’t seem likely to repeat the postseason berths of 2015/ 2016. They sit just below the .500 mark, a mediocre perch they’ve occupied throughout much of the first half of 2017. The loss of slugger Edwin Encarnacion, a deluge of injuries to stars and the team’s perpetual inability to score runs without a home run have left the team three games under .500 after their win in KC on Sunday.

Then this weekend came the news that the brilliant young closer, Roberto Osuna, was dealing with emotional problems, causing him to miss game action. Though he pitched Sunday there is no assurance of his return to full health. His loss for any sustained time would be crippling.

At 36-39 the team is not eliminated from postseason consideration in a season that has 87 games still to play. But the discussion is now underway: Sell or stay the course with this lineup? The team has some expensive contracts, and missing postseason revenues is not the way to pay them.

The Blue Jays are an unlikely blend for a team that wants to contend for years, both too old and too young in their key parts. There are young franchise pitchers in Osuna, Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman whom anyone would be happy to build around. But that’s about all for youth in the everyday lineup. The Jays’ farm system is likewise lean on dynamic prospects.

Toronto has to make contract decisions on Donaldson, Kevin Pillar, Estrada, Stroman, Sanchez and Liriano by the end of the season. Tulowitzki, Martin, Smoak and Morales are under existing contracts. Bautista and the Jays have a mutual option on next year’s deal. There isn’t much wiggle room for change unless one or more of the big contracts/ old guys are moved soon.

So if the Jays are moving on into an uncertain future with no postseason spots, who goes? And does Toronto wait until just before the July 31 trade deadline to make that determination?

The biggest consideration could be, do the Jays need to more proactive, because other teams look like they may flood the market by tossing in the towel early. The Detroit Tigers, for instance, have decided that they will make just about anyone available on their roster as they languish in last place in the Central, eight games under .500. That could mean J.D. Martinez. Ian Kinsler, Justin Wilson, Anibal Sanchez, Victor Martinez and (who knows) Justin Verlander in the mix.

The Jays don’t want to get to the deadline and find that the market for veteran players has already been addressed by the Tigers, Mets, Cardinals and (among others) Giants dumping their salary casualties into a saturated market. Donaldson is the most expensive asset the Jays must deal with, and he would bring a tidy haul of players were he dealt. Plus, he’d free up money to sign the few young players the Jays don't want to lose.

For all their misery so far, Toronto still has an outside shot at a wild card. Maybe they can pluck a few dead-end contracts (Kinsler to play second?) for a closing spurt. But a playoff spot would do nothing to address the systemic problems this team faces in the next few years. Only adding younger assets will do that now.

It says here, better to admit reality and suffer for a few months than deny the failure to produce enough every-day players and go into another prolonged drought.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Baseball Still Behind The Curve When It Comes To Arm HealthBruce DowbigginMon, 19 Jun 2017 03:47:09 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/18/unqbf0655xlnng5308ao51w0r2mepy557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:594746fca5790a39458777bbWhen I was a kid, my baseball hero was Mickey Lolich, the MVP of the 1968
World Series for the Detroit Tigers. Lolich was something less than a
fitness fanatic— he loved donuts— who’d learned to throw lefthanded when he
broke his right shoulder as a child.

When I was a kid, my baseball hero was Mickey Lolich, the MVP of the 1968 World Series for the Detroit Tigers. Lolich was something less than a fitness fanatic— he loved donuts— who’d learned to throw lefthanded when he broke his right shoulder as a child.

When his teammate Denny McLain faltered due to gambling and other issues, Lolich picked up the Tigers, won three games against St. Louis in a famous Series, and had all the donuts he wanted. From 1969-1975– and despite his round belly—Lolich pitched 280, 272, 376, 327, 308, 308 and 240 innings in consecutive seasons.

For perspective, David Price, the MLB leader in innings pitched in 2016, threw just 230 innings. The last pitcher to throw over 300 innings in a season was Phil Niekro in 1979— and he threw a knuckleball.

So you’d expect that the reduced workload for MLB pitchers has resulted in healthier arms. And you’d be wrong. There are many pitchers who can’t hit the 300-innings mark for a career before breaking down, needing so-called Tommy John surgery or simply giving up. In an age of advanced medical and mechanical research, throwing arms are fragile things.

The collateral damage is not from neglect. Teams and their medical people have reduced workloads, refined mechanics and changed diets so their pitchers might post something remotely close to Lolich-like numbers. All to no avail. It seems you’re not MLB-certified unless you’ve had surgery to replace ligaments in your elbow or shoulder.

The quest to find a better way to throw above 90 MPH without tearing up your arm is the subject of Jeff Passan’s book, The Arm (http://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062400369/the-arm. It charts the development of pitching and related medical innovations through the years. It also follows the recovery of two MLB pitchers (Todd Coffey and Daniel Hudson) looking to come back from ligament-replacement surgery in their elbow-- Tommy John surgery.

It also describes the anguish and elbow pain in the 1960s that ended the career of Sandy Koufax— considered the greatest left-hander ever by some— in a time when no one had the slightest idea how to take a ligament from the leg or wrist and put it in your elbow to replace the one that tore.

When I mentioned Lolich’s durability to Passan on my podcast The Full Count With Bruce Dowbiggin (https://goo.gl/qQPba9), he was quick to point out the differences between 1970s pitching and today. “I believe if we asked major league pitchers today to throw 300 plus innings a year, there would be some who could do what Lolich did. That being said, the baseball was thrown in a very different way back in the 1960s and 70s. The velocity on fastballs was at least eight miles an hour less. There were guys who could hump it up in the 90s. But most guys lived in the low-to-mid-80s.

“Because of that disparity it’s a lot easier to throw as an adult when you have lower velocity.” It’s more than just pure speed that’s changed, says Passan. Grips on the baseball, cutters, sinkers, and situational strategies have also conspired to make pitching more taxing on arms.

MLB teams spend a combined $2 billion on pitchers—five times the combined salaries of all today’s NFL quarterbacks— trying to find the next Chris Sale or Dallas Keuchel. They are dependent on a development system that now pushes prospects to tax their arms earlier in a quest for a million-dollar signing bonus.

As The Arm shows, this leads to 14-year-olds throwing in the 90s before their arms are mature enough the handle the stress. According to Passan the development system “tries to reach certain benchmarks that are going to help a kid stand out to (MLB) scouts or college coaches. It’s about winning in these insane seasons that these kids play. Kids are playing 60, 70, 80 games a summer at 10 or 12 years old. That’s obscene, that’s irresponsible. And the parents are not properly educated. And neither, frankly, are the coaches.”

He cites studies in Japan of nine-to-twelve year-old pitchers who already have significant ligament damage. And while everyone wants to end the madness, no one has yet suggested a better way to produce MLB arms that consistently throw in the mid-90s.

Yes, baseball’s a game. But the search for a safer way to treat the pitching arm is very personal. “There’s a lot at stake here,” says Passan. “This is people’s lives. People’s livelihoods.” Time and again, Passan’s drama returns to an innocuous part ofhuman engineering upon which millions of dollars can flow. “All of this is in the hands of one tiny ligament that resides in a place in the elbow where it’s not strong enough for most people.”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Requiem For A Featherweight: How Jose Aldo Was Built To Destroy An Era…And That Era Has PassedMMARhys DowbigginTue, 13 Jun 2017 02:17:19 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/12/aldo557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:593efd92893fc06232023106Over a week ago, Jose Aldo saw his legendary streak as UFC Featherweight
champion end, ushering in the reign of a new champion, Max Holloway. It
appeared to the MMA world that Aldo was now a thing of the past. In truth,
it was Aldo’s dominance of a past era is what brought about his demise.

The greatest featherweight of our time exploded into the public consciousness with every dull thud of wincing leg kicks and video-game like counter punching. On April 24, 2010, as Urijah Faber limped around a WEC cage, his left leg purple and blue, the most popular star in the sport hobbled by a head-shaved Brazilian with a face of stubble and off-colour scar on his left cheek. Jose Aldo had arrived.

Fast-forward to just over a week ago. That same shaved head and scar now on a face clean-shaven with a goatee, marred with ugly red bruises and swelling, appeared defeated. Aldo, seven years removed from that Faber fight, had seen his legendary streak as UFC Featherweight champion end, ushering in the reign of a new champion, Max Holloway. Aldo appeared despondent, his face a mask of his own emotion and a portrait of Holloway’s brutal beating. It appeared to the MMA world that Aldo was now a thing of the past.

In truth, it was Aldo’s dominance of an era that brought about his demise.

To many, the realization of Aldo’s greatness came two fights earlier when he finished a younger Cub Swanson with a terrifying counter jumping knee on a takedown attempt. In hindsight, while the manner in which he brutalized Faber’s leg would come to represent the utter terror of fighting Aldo, it was his finish of Swanson that symbolized the inevitability challenger after challenger had to face. Because for the longest time, nobody stopped a takedown better than Aldo – and everybody’s game was built on the takedown.

In any sport there is a metagme being played, an overarching trend that evolves out of the many forces at play in the training rooms and competitions throughout the sport. In football, there was the move from power-I running attacks in the 70’s to the West Coast offense in the late 80’s, then the move from the West Coast to the spread principles in the aughts. Sports change on a high level to favor certain coaching principles, training concepts, and styles. The very best athletes of their era tend to either adapt to the metagame or be perfectly suited for it. Jose Aldo was both.

On a high level, Aldo’s career was built on perfect timing and reaction to what was around him. In a sport that began its evolution from a cage fight between misfit toys, the first dominant force Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BJJ was a discipline that convinced the boxers, wrestlers, muai thai, and other practioners to learn some new tricks or die. As the early BJJ practioners had shown, on the mat was where most athletes made mistakes.

The next evolution of the sport came from the wrestlers who discovered how to get what they wanted, the takedown, while mitigating the risk of slick submissions. Fighters like Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, and Matt Hughes came to be dominant figures in MMA on the back of their wrestling pedigrees. Some used it as an offensive tool, like Ortiz and Hughes, while others utilized it to keep fights on the feet where they could bang it out, like Liddell and Henderson. But their dominance was a result of being exceptional at pursuing, achieving, or preventing the takedown.

The sport continued to evolve from the Liddell, Ortiz, and Hughes’ into fighters like George St. Pierre, Brock Lesnar, Johny Hendricks, and Benson Henderson. These fighters were better overall athletes, increasingly dynamic on the feet, and more versatile grapplers. But they still relied on the threat of the takedown, the ability to use it offensively and defensively.

Like the relationship of an alpha predator to its environment, Aldo was made to consume all other predators just like that. If a fighter relied on the takedown, Aldo made a meal of them. The stockier they were, the better. The more one-dimensional their standup, the better.

As McGregor’s coach, John Kavanaugh, surmised to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto in the lead up to Aldo-Holloway, “Aldo's style is almost perfect against smaller guys who are grappling-based. I don't believe there is a smaller guy than Aldo in the world, who is grappling based, who could beat him.” Aldo fought this very prototype throughout his career. The kind of fighter typified by the Manny Gumburyan, Faber, Chad Mendes, Ricardo Lamas, and Frankie Edgar’s of the sport.

To understand why these fighters – and why their prototype within the metagame – were prime pickings for Aldo, you need to understand how the takedown grappler makes their bread.

In the most basic sense, takedowns begin in two areas: the clinch and the shot. For a wrestler, the key is to get to their opponent’s hips. If they can get it by starting in a clinch exchange and dropping to the hips, or, as was most common during the heydays of Ortiz, Couture, and their ilk, with a relentless blast-double or single-leg, they were in business. Both can happen out in open space or near the cage.

One of the shifts in the metagame, a shift that a fighter like Aldo has led the charge, is denying wrestlers the shot – and the ability to get their hips – out in open space. Aldo was the master of this. He blazed new and exciting tactics for keeping takedown-hungry fighters off his hips. He began to use pivots (shifting ones weight on a ‘pivot’ leg) to create angles difficult for wrestlers to shoot on him clean, like a matador calmly stepping aside a charging bull. He also used the threat of his knees, which are arching, upward attacks that connect with the downward movement of a wrestlers head on a takedown attempt. This wasn’t all. If a fighter were to get lucky enough to secure a single-leg, Aldo was a master at pushing down on their head while simultaneously ‘limp legging’ the captured leg and slipping it out, as if his leg were made of butter.

As wrestler began to see their opportunities out in open space decrease, many adjusted by trying to force grappling opportunities near the cage. The same way Aldo was ahead of the game in space, his game was already kryptonite for this tactic. He rarely let other fighters pressure him, often dissuading their advances with nasty counter striking. His pivots were of further benefit here, because he could take subtle angles to move away from the cage and put his back facing into open space.

This is, ironically, the beauty of Aldo’s legacy and what will live on when we look back on it. He feasted on an entire era of fighters who built their game on the takedown. It is also why his losses to McGregor and Holloway signal perhaps not only Aldo’s shift in irrelevance, but that era of the metagame.

At the point in which the metagame evolved to broadly favor takedown artists, it then shifted in favor of fighters who could deny the takedown while also being even more of a terror on the feet. These long strikers used Aldo-like angles but also poured on the striking volume, overwhelming anyone who couldn’t meet their pace. Aldo’s success encouraged the growth of the kind of fighter who would come to threaten him most. If it wasn’t for Aldo revealing the secret to beating the powerful takedown stylists, the Max Holloway’s of the world may not have evolved accordingly.

Ironically, Aldo ushered in the kind of changes in the metagame that would precipitate his own downfall. In so doing, he displayed the incredible ability to both dominate the competition of his era and the broader style that dominated that era.

Though Aldo is not done just yet, only time will tell if we get another fighter who was so perfectly suited to annihilate an entire era of fighting. With his latest defeat, if it feels not only like the loss of a great champion but a part of the sport, it certainly is.

Rhys has worked six years in the public relations industry rubbing shoulders with movie stars (who ignored him) to athletes (who tolerated him). He likes tiki-taka football, jelly beans, and arguing with Bruce about everything.

]]>Another Installment Of The The League That Shouldn't Survive Bruce DowbigginMon, 12 Jun 2017 13:32:08 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/12/another-installment-of-the-the-league-that-shouldnt-survive557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:593e9631579fb3fa4a82db5a

Like the Batman franchise, the Canadian Football League has had many faces and plenty of near-death experiences. Like the caped crusader, the CFL has familiar nemeses, predictable plot lines and a miraculous escape at the end of every story line.

So working up alarm for the CFL is a pointless experience. It was here when we were born, it will be here when we die. The faces and names change, but the dynamic remains.

That said, it’s going to be a hairy episode for three-down football in the 2017 season. Let’s do the mis en scene for CFL: The Dark League Rises.

1) The Toronto Argonauts held a preseason game the other night where attendance was outdrawn by several street mimes in Yorkville. There is no expectation that these numbers will grow significantly barring an undefeated season and Bruce Springsteen singing the national anthems. They remain

This, in spite of getting themselves into a new stadium with solid ownership from MLSE. It’s been said a million times so let’s make this the last: the Argos are the national advertising lynchpin for the league. While southern Ontario ratings on TSN remain as strong as the Argos’ attendance is weak, the numbers we’re looking at in 2017 are not good.

2) Having zapped Michael Orridge as commissioner this offseason, the league has yet to fill the post as the spokesperson for the CFL. One source told IDLM that it was like dealing with “kids” when he did business with the commissioner-less CFL. The job is thankless with this ownership group. Like working for nine Donald Trumps. But they need to get the right person this time.

I can think of several people who’d be perfect. But I like them too much to inflict the CFL Board of Governors on them.

3) With the retirement of Henry Burris, the CFL’s inventory of recognizable stars is down to Bo Levi Mitchell and the guy in Regina whose helmet explodes whenever the team scores. There was the usual emigration of names to the NFL over the winter, and they can’t return before midseason. Yes, it’s all about the crest on the helmet in the CFL. But a few stars, please?

4) The ongoing controversy over concussions in sport is doing football no favours. While soccer has also been tainted by the revelations about brain injuries in the sport, football has received the bulk of the negative stories. There still seems to be a steady supply of athletes still playing the sport in Canada, but there’s a decided pushback in the culture against football, rugby and hockey for their violence.

This culture clash also highlights the demographic gap facing the CFL. Its core audience is aging, and the league is nowhere with millenials. Being seen as a sport that destroys its participants has to be reversed if the CFL is to prosper among a younger audience.

5) The league has had a nice influx of new stadiums or upgrades of late. Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Mosaic Stadium in Regina and Investors Group Field in Winnipeg are impressive new facilities. Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa have renovated facilities. Edmonton still has the Commonwealth Stadium for the 2018 Grey Cup Festival.

But the arena controversy in Calgary has left the Stampeders (owned by the Flames ownership group) stuck in the fossil known as McMahon Stadium— built in 1960. As a result of their decrepit home they have been passed over in the rotation for the Cup. It now appears that the city and Flames will build a hockey-only facility, leaving the Stamps in a bad place.

The hockey team has said it will simply walk away from Calgary if it can’t get a suitable new home. That’s not going to happen. And with 20,000 diehards for the Stamps, the CFL team sin’t hitting the highway either. But even in an oil downturn, corporate Calgary is a huge factor in the financial equation for the league. Getting the league’s best team into a respectable facility is urgent.

Those are just some of the problems of the league. They are serious and there appears little hope of an easy solution. But this is the CFL. A league that has faced the Riddler, the Joker and the Las Vegas Posse-- and survived. A league that starts the season with a gun at its head and Dirty Harry saying, “ So, are you feeling lucky, punk?”

It doesn’t scare easy. So long as TSN keeps underwriting the league in its adventures, financial security is assured. Hope for the best, expect the worst and remember to dress warmly or the Grey Cup game in November.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>In The Mind of TJ DillashawMMARhys DowbigginThu, 08 Jun 2017 14:58:46 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/7/in-the-mind-of-tj-dillashaw557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:593843f0d1758e7532829d95Demetrious Johnson is on the offensive against the UFC. TJ DiIlashaw is not
impressed. But why? We bore into the mind of the Bantamweight contender and
look to unravel the wires.

When I beat Dominick Crudz everybody knew I beat him. I went to the gym on Tuesday and everybody was saying, ‘Yo, TJ, you got jobbed. Domidink sucks’ It was obvious to all the smartest people. My numbers blew his out of the water.

The state of the UFC right now is so stupid. Example number one: Demetrious ‘Minnie Mouse’ Johnson turning down a fight with me, the best Bantamweight on the planet, TJ Dillashaw. Everybody thinks this is DJ making good business decisions for himself. You know what’s a good business decision? Moving to Colorado to train with Bang and leaving behind all the hangers-on at Team Alpha Male. I know good deals. I’m like Donald Trump. I make the best deals. DJ’s deals were terrible deals. Trust me, I know good deals.

Everyone tells me my problem should be with the UFC. That’s dumb. They just make the fights. It’s DJ’s fault for not taking the fight. I remember distinctly after beating The Decisionator, Dana said, ‘Hey, you’ll get your rematch.’ When I didn’t get it, I knew it wasn’t the UFC’s fault - it was Urijah conspiring against me to get his leech Cody the shot. It’s just like how GSP totally lied to me about the MMAA. The problem isn’t with the UFC, the problem is all the fighters not named TJ Dillashaw.

Remember when I beat Renen Barao? Wasn’t that the greatest upset you’d ever seen (my numbers blew his out of the water)? I earned that shot fair and square. No one was there for me. Sure, Urijah same some stuff but read between the lines, people. He was using reverse psychology to try and screw me. No one was advocating for me to get that shit. It was only me. Cody didn’t earn his shot at Dramanick fair and square. That was Dummynick hand-picking his own fight, which is totally unfair to me, TJ Dillashaw.

Listen, everybody likes to pick on me. That’s cool. But I don’t hand-pick my fights, like Mickey Mouse. Its like this, there was that time on TUF when I was upset because, like, they wanted me to fight John Dodson too early and I wanted Roland Delorme – but that wasn’t fight picking. Roland had to go to the hospital that week so it was just good strategy, ok? That was just playing the bracket. Diego Brandao, Akira Corissani, and Marcus Brimage called me ‘Draft Dodger’. I don’t even know what that means! Like the NFL Draft? Who would want to skip the NFL Draft? What idiots. Where are they now? LOL. They didn’t think about good business deals like me, TJ Dillashaw. I blow their numbers out of the water.

Now a good negotiator shouldn’t do what I’m about to do. But guess what? Rule number two of being a good businessman is putting all the cards are on the table. Here’s why I, TJ Dillashaw, am owed, deserve, and expect a title shot against Minnie Mouse:

I’m the number one contender. It doesn’t matter if I’m number one at Bantamweight, Featherweight, or Women’s Straweight – I am number one. My numbers blow everyone’s out of the water. Period. No one further questions your honor. End of story. No other argument needed.

...........

.........................

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WHAT ABOUT HOW I BEAT THE LAST GUY WHO BEAT DJ!? Stupid Dominick Crumbz. I beat him so bad. My numbers blew his out of the water. The refs knew it, the judges knew it, Dana knew it. They just gave it to Dramanick for promotional purposes. Now it’s my turn to screw someone for promotional purposes. Dana said so.

Rhys has worked six years in the public relations industry rubbing shoulders with movie stars (who ignored him) to athletes (who tolerated him). He likes tiki-taka football, jelly beans, and arguing with Bruce about everything.

]]>LeBron Takes The Road Of Least Resistance On RaceBruce DowbigginMon, 05 Jun 2017 12:45:26 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/6/5/2dvu9u0hdjl9s4k2qirlqideok0xa7557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:593550a71b10e3af53d2a1b8As Game One of the NBA Finals turned into a runaway last Thursday, ABC/
ESPN (owned by Disney Corp.) decided to liven things up with a teaching
moment. The otherwise excellent reporter, Doris Burke, was summoned
courtside to remind everyone that LeBron James’ home had allegedly been
spray painted with the word n****r.

As Game One of the NBA Finals turned into a runaway last Thursday, ABC/ ESPN (owned by Disney Corp.) decided to liven things up with a teaching moment. The otherwise excellent reporter, Doris Burke, was summoned courtside to remind everyone that LeBron James’ home had allegedly been spray painted with the word nigger.

James had already opined to media: “It goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America. Hate in America, especially for African Americans, is living everyday”.

Echoing James’ earlier remarks, Burke delivered the kind of homily for which ESPN has lately become infamous. Using the alleged incident, Burke launched into pious chat about the stain of racism in America etc.

As we learned from the “Hands Up, Don't Shoot” scam in Ferguson, Mo., and Rolling Stone’s Virginia Tech phony rape allegations against a fraternity and staff, progressive media don’t let a little thing like proof get in the way of a chance to lecture America on its abject failings— such as electing Donald Trump.

The debate over unemployed NFL QB Colin Kaepernick refusing to stand for the national anthem featured the sort of partisan arbitrage from the media that has come to be their calling card. Sports networks have become talking shops for the liberal guilt industry of late. Leagues like the NBA— which took its All Star Game away from North Carolina over the issue of toilet access— follow suit.

But the absurdity of a man worth hundreds of millions— perhaps a billion— dollars, who has been afforded every break by white America, playing the race card is truly dismaying. James had a chance to make a positive statement: “Yes, this was painted on my gate. But we’ve come so far to let small people stop us. There will always be haters, but I want to move forward.”

That was Michael Jordan’s take with his famous, “Republicans buy running shoes, too.” He had no time for division.

James— like unemployed NFL QB Colin Kaepernick— chose to cash in on his celebrity to buy acceptance from the progressive black community. No doubt under tremendous pressure in his community to acquiesce to the extremists, James caved. The man who’s at his best under pressure wanted none of it here. It was easier to roll over.

Black journalist Jason Whitlock noticed and was not impressed. “I believe LeBron is controlled by handlers and has moved into the political arena” he tweeted. Whitlock mocked James’ adoption of a grievance attitude, saying he was "embracing his victimhood" and that the graffiti "wasn't that big of a deal."

Stating the obvious, Whitlock added, "racism only affects the poor”, and a rich man like James, living behind a security fence, looks absurd playing the injured party.

Whitlock, who does believe in racism, was challenged by NFL player Marcellus Bennett, another rich man parading in a hair shirt: “Too many in position to promote change side step the opportunity. If those on top don't lift others up, they need move their ass away.”

Whitlock derided his political virtue-spinning: “Spray-painted slurs is the safe, shallow end of the pool. Go ahead and splash around there. Right depth for you.” Whitlock is used to digging in his heels to bullies. James was not. Neither was ESPN or its Disney owners.

Unfortunately that is the legacy of progressives such as former attorney general Eric Holder who called Americans “cowards” for not abasing themselves to race in a manner he demanded. A man with enough money to feed a small town sees himself as a victim.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>NBA's Strong Finish Versus NHL's Parity Party: Who Got The Playoffs Right?Bruce DowbigginMon, 29 May 2017 04:06:22 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/5/28/i1btlpiw46chctidqofhozpyhi60ft557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:592b9d88e4fcb57df0ae77a0The NBA Finals beginning Thursday feature the two best teams in the league,
both with star-studded lineups. The NHL Stanley Cup Final is a surprise
with one highly rated team and another wildcard team from Nashville that
finished in the middle of the playoff pack.

The NBA Finals beginning Thursday feature the two best teams in the league, both with star-studded lineups. The NHL Stanley Cup Final is a surprise with one highly rated team and another wildcard team from Nashville that finished in the middle of the playoff pack.

On the surface you’d say the NBA got it right while the NHL had done something wrong. You want your final series to be a showcase of the best and the early rounds to be appetizers for the big meal.

And, this season at least, you’d be wrong.

The NBA has always operated on building momentum through the early rounds. The lowest-rank seeds almost never beat the top teams (Golden State’s win over No. 1 Dallas in 2006 is a notable exception.) But the early rounds provide just enough excitement to keep fans waiting till June for the Final.

Till this year. The NBA needs a dramatic Final to save what has been a highly disappointing postseason littered with double-digit blowout wins, teams giving up at halftime and stars delivering lacklustre performances. Only one opening-round series went seven games. The Toronto Raptors— Canada’s rooting interest— got by its opening round then was filleted by the Cavs in four straight.

The Warriors— the league’s glamour team after a 67-win campaign— went though the first three rounds without breaking a sweat. In going unbeaten so far Steph Curry and his pals spotted the San Antonio Spurs a 25-point lead in the Western Final opener then nonchalantly came back to win the game by two points. Viewers in the East could usually go to bed early, knowing that big leads held up.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Eastern champs, likewise, were almost unchallenged. They lost just one game in the first three rounds, casting aside opponents such as the Raptors like so many high school varsity squads. They were one bad quarter against Boston from making it a clean sweep. LeBron James, after coasting through the back half of the season, was a force of nature against flailing foes.

It’s been a disaster for bookies in Vegas as even the largest point spreads were unable to keep public bettors from cashing in on favourites.

The NBA’s idea has always been to have the best teams meet in the final, not the first rounds of playoffs— and If form holds this Final series should be a classic. It better be, because TV networks won’t buy rollover playoffs forever. The competition got so unattractive, NBA TV analyst Charles Barkley announced (facetiously?) he was leaving the blowout Cleveland/ Boston final game to go to his hotel to watch the Ottawa/ Pittsburgh hockey game.

Speaking of the NHL, it was criticized heavily for letting its top seed in the Central— the Chicago Blackhawks— be eliminated in the first round by wild card Nashville. Similarly, other top squads disappeared early in the going. Minnesota and St. Louis— Nos. 2 & 3 in the Central— met in the first round with the Wild being beaten.

In the East, Pittsburgh and Columbus— the No. 2 and No. 3 Metropolitan Division seeds—met in the opening round with the Blue Jackets getting the early summer vacay. Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals— the best team in the NHL in the regular season— were snuffed out by the Penguins in the next round.

Anaheim, everyone’s favourite after Chicago was defeated, barely got by Edmonton and then fell to the Predators in the West Final. This NHL parity— which we’ve decried here before— produced a few Cinderellas in the Oilers, Senators and Preds. While the drama was high, the quality of the play was epitomized by the Senators, who played a numbing conservative style reliant on goalie Craig Anderson to hold off opposition shooters.

The games were also kept close as referees did their annual spring disappearing trick, letting all sorts of mayhem go unpunished while zealously calling the obvious puck-over-the-glass penalties.

What the series lacked in form, however, they made up for in drama. Overtimes (27 so far, including Pittsburgh beating Ottawa in double OT in) and seventh games have provided compelling viewing. While NBA fans slept securely in the knowledge that games were over after three quarters, NHL fans had to wait till the wee hours of the night to be sure of a result.

Still, the NBA wishes but had these sorts of problems in the spring of 2017. The league is rapidly evolving to the soccer model with a few elite teams contesting the title while the rest off the rabble scrambling for crumbs. The ratings for the Final will be huge, no doubt justifying the philosophy of saving the best for last.

The NHL will content itself with its “anyone can win” philosophy. TV ratings will be dwarfed by the NBA. But the debate about which playoff format works will go unresolved for a while yet.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Cord Cutting Will Be The End Of The Sports Salary BubbleBruce DowbigginTue, 23 May 2017 03:16:14 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/5/22/cord-cutting-will-be-the-end-of-the-sports-salary-bubble557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:5923a88446c3c49b332a8c7dThe Toronto Blue Jays are nearing a point of decision on a number of their
highly paid players. Will the 2017 edition of the club be worth preserving?
Or is it time to unload Josh Donaldson, José Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki and
others at the trade deadline for whatever they will return in trade?

The Toronto Blue Jays are nearing a point of decision on a number of their highly paid players. Will the 2017 edition of the club be worth preserving? Or is it time to unload Josh Donaldson, José Bautista, Troy Tulowitzki and others at the trade deadline for whatever they will return in trade?

Even if the club is still clinging to a faint whiff of postseason enthusiasm, there is another good reason why they— and why teams in many of the major team sports— should be unloading the expensive contracts they’ve signed recently.

While huge money is still flowing to leagues in existing contracts s from various media sources, there is a very real possibility that the TV/ radio bubble is about to burst— taking huge salaries with it.

Here’s why: According to Nielsen Research, ESPN lost 1,176,000 subscribers in just two months last fall. ESPN currently has just over 88 million domestic subscribers—. down from 99 million subscribers in 2013. (ESPN disputes the numbers but not the trend.)

There are a lot of reasons for this. Cord cutting (dropping cable subscriptions) has accelerated dramatically in the U.S. as consumers turn to Netflix, Apple TV, Google, Amazon, Facebook and other content outlets. Particularly, young viewers are customizing their viewing, turning to tablets or phones for their live sports to save money. Or ignoring sports completely.

As well, the recent political turn by ESPN (awarding Caitlyn Jenner with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the Espys went over like a lead balloon with the sweats) has soured many die-hard sports fans who want to keep politics on CNN or FOX.

The upshot of this mass migration from the Disney-owned channel will inevitably be less money for rights to prime sports properties. Here’s what ESPN currently is paying, according to Outback The Coverage: “$1.9 billion (all figures US) a year to the NFL for Monday Night Football, $1.47 billion to the NBA, $700 million to Major League Baseball, $608 million for the College Football Playoff, $225 million to the ACC, $190 million to the Big Ten, $120 million a year to the Big 12, $125 million a year to the PAC 12, and hundreds of millions more to the SEC.

That’s about $6 billion. And while ESPN remains very rich because of their subscriptions (estimates are that average customers pay $80 a year to ESPN, hidden in cable fees), something will have to give. For a long time, cable subscribers who were forced to pay for ESPN but never watched it subsidized the minority who do watch. New rules on choice kill that equation.

Who will take up the slack?

Other cable sports networks face the same future. Fewer bidders for all these rights is going to send shockwaves through the leagues that have grown fat and sassy on TV money. Those strapped to guaranteed contracts and salary caps will no doubt face a crisis if the cord-cutting continues at this pace. Teams like the Blue Jays.

Cord cutting is also hitting the mainstream media— and that includes the major networks that routinely pony up for sports in the U.S. Three TV networks— NBC, CBS and FOX plus ESPN— are paying the NFL about $6 million a year for rights. Fabulous sums in the billions are going for the NBA, NHL and MLS, too.

Regional broadcasting might see less volatility, but the amounts it brings outside of a few major metropolitan regions are not going to replace the missing national revenues from lost customers and millenials who have drifted to other entertainment vehicles. This is, in part, why leagues are encouraging Google, Amazon and Netflix, among others, to bid for broadcast rights to their sports events,

In Canada, Sportsnet wagered everything on obtaining the NHL national TV/ digital package from CBC. The 12-year, $5.2 billion deal is a bet on having a platform to sell its phones, cable TV and internet. While cutting the cord has not accelerated in Canada as it has in the U.S., it’s a mater of time till the new bundling rules— which allow non-sports fans to escape cable or satellite fees for unwanted sports channels— produce a cascade of customers away from the easy subscription money of non-watchers.

To say nothing of a collapsing CDN dollar in a contract paid in US dollars.

That could leave a significant hole in revenues needed to pay current rights payments— and, by extension, player salaries. That’s major jeopardy for the CFL, MLB, NBA and other sports in Canada. Leagues have already begun undertaking the production of their own cable networksor creating their own broadcast platforms for the day when advertisers will no longer pay expensive rates for spots on telecasts few young people watch.

The future for them all— and for the athletes who are paid out of the huge TV revenues— hangs on the ability to monetize digital rights. While there have been some interesting innovations— and large audiences for YouTube or other digital platforms— the current pay scales are unsustainable under the current economy.

The smart teams will be the ones that see this first and act on it quickly. Your move, Blue Jays.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>Dangerous Checks, Is PK Moving Again and Grating On The Great EightBruce DowbigginMon, 15 May 2017 03:46:25 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/5/14/gku6vh6jns8rdymdfpxj0z73ga2hdv557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:5919235cb3db2b3cdad1860dLooking for an NHL catch phrase to describe the third round of the
playoffs? How about May Mayhem? Apparently the stick work of April is not
enough. This month’s lawless behaviour permitted by the league is checking
from behind into the boards. Games lately have been a festival of players
being pitched face-first into danger by a cross check from behind.

Looking for an NHL catch phrase to describe the third round of the playoffs? How about May Mayhem? Apparently the stick work of April is not enough. This month’s lawless behaviour permitted by the league is checking from behind into the boards. Games lately have been a festival of players being pitched face-first into danger by a cross check from behind.

How do we know it’s a thing?

This week Don Cherry was rummaging through his trick bag for a description of why Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf is such a great leader. His tape sampler featured the Ducks star pile-driving opponents from behind into the boards (without penalty). I rest my case.

Getzlaf is hardly unique this month. Sidney Crosby has been launched in this manner on a number of occasions— as recently as Saturday versus Ottawa when Dion Phaneuf played rocket booster to the Pens’ captain.

Sometimes players are being checked this way because they’ve turned their backs to the defender. But that is not an excuse. Football doesn’t allow hits from behind, and no one has accused it of going soft. As we’ve said many times, the NHL is tempting fate by permitting checking from behind. The game is dangerous enough already. It doesn’t need a paralyzed or deceased player to illustrate the point.

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The Nashville Predators have so many excellent defencemen that former Montreal superstar P.K. Subban is now the No. 3 defencemen on the team,. In the days before salary chaos that would have been an embarrassment of riches for the Preds.

After all, defencemen are the coin of the realm in the NHL. He who has many blueliners is considered a Warren Buffet on ice, But in the salary-capped NHL, no team can afford a player with Subban’s contract— eight-year, $72 million contract, running through the 2021–22 season— playing third-D minutes. Suggesting to some that GM David Poile of the Preds might try to fins a buyer for the charismatic ex-Hab.

All of which begs the question: Has Subban become the new Dion Phaneuf? Phaneuf, if you’ll recall, burst on the NHL scene as an offensive defenceman with the Flames. As a rookie in Calgary he wowed the league with his big shot and his dynamic skating. He was also a big pain in the ass to opponents, a controversial figure in the NHL.

Like Subban, Phaneuf won a big contract well before the Flames had pay him big money under the NHL’s salary grid. But, as the years past, he was not playing up to the salary commitment the Flames were making to him. He was considered hard to coach, a risk-taker who played to the tune of his own music.

Eventually, the Flames tiredof Phaneuf’s unreliability on ice and shipped him to Toronto in a controversial deal. With the moribund Maple Leafs, Phaneuf played better, but he was not the man to turn Toronto around. After six years as the whipping boy in Toronto, Phaneuf was dealt to Ottawa, where he has managed to become a reliable defenceman in these 2016 playoffs— just not the supposed superstar he was touted in Calgary.

Subban appears to be headed in the same direction. He’s entertaining, fun to watch as he plays high-risk hockey, and he’s also a coach killer. The arc of his career is resembling Phaneuf more each year, Does he become like Phaneuf, a talented enigma passed around the league to diminishing expectations?

An Ottawa/ Nashville Cup final might answer a few of those questions.

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Speaking of puck pariahs, this past week saw the defenestration of Washington superstar Alex Ovechkin after his Capitals once again failed to surmount Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in the playoffs. In a bitter defeat Washington lost yet again in a Game Seven— this time at home to Pittsburgh.

With Ovechkin as captain, the Caps have not advanced to a Stanley Cup Final while Crosby has taken the Pens to two Stanley Cups in three visits to the Final. Adding to the disappointment, the Caps have won three Presidents Trophy titles as the best club in the regular season under Ovechkin, a three-time NHL MVP.

The crushing loss last week brought out a storm of criticism, amy from sources who’d previously been empathetic to Ovechkin. In particular, Russian journalist Slava Malamud (one of Ovy’s critics in the past) brought down the pain, accusing Ovechkin being a prima donna who has dragged down the Caps (and the Russian national team) over the past decade through his lack of leadership.

Sample: “An insane hockey talent who can't drag a team kicking and screaming to victory. Doesn't command the room in this way. Always been like this.” Certainly, Ovechkin’s record in big games in the postseason and Olympics is replete with failure. But having built his franchise around the player, Caps owner Ted Leonsis has been unwilling to face this reality that maybe The Great Eight is fallible.

With a huge contract and the owner’s undying love, Ovy’s not going anywhere soon. But his legacy is a Hall of Famer who can’t win the big one. Not dissimilar to where Brett Hull was when he left St. Louis for Dallas Stars. A record goal scorer and Hart Trophy winner with the Blues, Hull became a secondary star with Dallas and then Detroit and won two Stanley Cups at the end of his career.

Can Ovechkin turn around his rep as a guy who can’t get you where you’re going? What’s clear is that the Washington equation isn’t working. The question now is whether the Caps adapt or trade him.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)

]]>A No-Game Suspension Of BeliefBruce DowbigginMon, 08 May 2017 02:50:58 +0000http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com/i-dont-like-mondays/2017/5/7/f3chsa7s54ownfgqu7cttttgl6nli6557e12a0e4b04d97ac0ab999:5580de74e4b03f5130164405:590fd9029f745610d38f8c25In criminology they call it recidivism— the tendency of criminals to
re-offend, revert to the norm, as it were. While there is much noise about
rehabilitation in society, a certain percentage of the usual suspects end
up precisely where we found them. Bad to the bone.

In criminology they call it recidivism— the tendency of criminals to re-offend, revert to the norm, as it were. While there is much noise about rehabilitation in society, a certain percentage of the usual suspects end up precisely where we found them. Bad to the bone.

So recidivism might be the best way to explain the National Hockey League and its sporadic efforts to go straight. Its attempts at curbing the malevolent instincts of players on its teams. In some respects, rehabilitation has worked splendidly. Fighting— at least the mindless video-game version between players with no other skills but punching— has thankfully left the sport. While Don Cherry still rages like Lear on Saturdays about instigators and deterrence, the game is better off without its periodic outbreaks of bare-knuckled madness.

In other fields, however, the league just can’t help itself. For the years since “freeing up the game” was loudly declared following the 2004-05 lockout, fans have endured episodes of reform and recidivism on the flow of play, on minor fouls, on major fouls and on video reviews into the sport.

“Wasn’t that a penalty in December?” a befuddled fan has asked his remote this spring as some miscreant gets away with crime against the home team. The infraction could be as benign as how much interference to allow a defenceman when the puck is chipped behind him into the zone. Or it could be a two-handed crosscheck to one of the game’s elite players that drew a suspension in the early season but now draws a mere wrist-tap from the risibly named Player Safety department.

The current fan confusion concerns the outbreak of vicious stick work in the 2017 playoffs. Anyone watching will recognize the crosscheck victim mentioned above as Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, who was fed a graphite sandwich by Matt Niskanen of Washington when Crosby fell into him in Game Three of their current playoff series. Crosby had been propelled into Niskanen by Capitals star Alex Ovechkin who’d applied more graphite to noggin of the Pens captain.

For those scoring at home, Niskanen received five minutes for trying to garrot Crosby. But no suspension or fine. Not even a hearing about the act. Great news for Caps fans but a “what the hell?” from fans off other teams who’ve seen less from their teams punished more severely. (Canucks fans will offer this late-but-otherwise legal hit by Aaron Rome in the 2011 Final: (https://goo.gl/5K3BeU).

Usually referees set a rigourous standard early in the playoffs, calling marginal fouls to halt boys with no impulse control otherwise. But the refs seemingly let it slide in 2017. Now, players have begun to employ the lacrosse standard of using a stick check to discourage opponents from breathing normally for two or three weeks. In this context the Crosby crosscheck is a go-sign to push the standard as far as it can go.

The Niskanen/ Ovechkin example is not exceptional. Anywhere close to the net, the two-hander has been de rigeur lately. While a penalty for breaking an opponent’s stick has been rigorously called, there has been no similar prohibition on breaking your stick over an opponent’s more vulnerable parts.

Then there was this vicious pitchfork spear by Boston’s perpetually offensive Brad Marchand to the junk of Jake Dotchin just before the playoffs. Despite a long rap sheet, Marchand got just two games for (https://goo.gl/5K3BeU), and— crucially— no playoff time off.

Indeed it seems that, not only is there a different standard from the regular season in these playoffs, there’s a different standard from one playoff year to the next.

Now before we declare a fatwah on referees for ruining the postseason by neglecting their whistle we need to point out that anyone who thinks referees call what they please (á la Frank Udvari, Andy van Hellemond or Bruce Hood) is delusional. The game-to-game behaviour of zebras is monitored and shaped by a torrent of corrective memos from the league head office.

The head office, meanwhile, is monitored and shaped by ownership and management of teams which keep up a steady stream of helpful suggestions about how the opponents are the most dastardly foes since Genghis Khan and their own players are pure as the driven snow. Often it’s really not worth a referee’s job to get too far out on a limb when Jeremy Jacobs of Boston thinks you’re biased against Beantown.

The dissatisfaction with all this will no doubt reach the ears of commissioner Gary Bettman. Another campaign to clean up the game will be launched. Players and fans will howl, “You can’t call that!”

But they will. Until the next time it’s convenient to re-offend.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy.is the host of the podcast The Full Count with Bruce Dowbiggin on anticanetwork.com. He’s also a regular contributor three-times-a-week to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. His website is Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com)